6.8. EDSR 01-20-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 9. WIN other city / EDA financing sources be sought? GATR Truck Center anticipates applying for the newly created Jobs Incentive EDA Microloan to help offset the cost of the project. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION After reviewing staff's report to the EDA, dated 12- 10 -14, 1 provided project information that already had been provided to staff, but not included in the report to the EDA via email. The industrial /car dealership comparison spreadsheet prepared by staff, failed to include the annual tax base paid per user. Increasing the city's light industrial tax base, commercial tax base, and employment base is one of the EDA's goals in the strategic plan, so I felt it beneficial this information was included as well. Based upon the projects identified by staff in the comparison spreadsheet, the following is true based upon GATR's proposed project, and the anticipated tax estimates provided by County Assessor Dan Weber (preliminary; more accurate estimates are made once a final site plan is complete): • Based upon preliminary tax estimates, total estimated annual taxes for GATR's proposed project are $194,894 • GATR's estimated taxes are $93,856 higher than the average annual industrial taxes • GATR's estimated taxes are $148,374 higher than the average commercial car sales /repair annual taxes • GATR's estimated project value is $4,475,675 higher than the average commercial car sales /repair project Tax information supporting these figures is attached and was pulled off the Sherburne County GIS website. To save my client money, I opted not to complete the number of employees and average hourly wages per user, however, GATR's project will create two times the new jobs of PPC, and ten times the number new jobs proposed for the Morrell Companies proposed expansion, at an average hourly rate higher than the two companies. The EDA met on December 15, 2014 to discuss the project, and per their direction, Mr. Barnhart provided me with a letter of additional information needed to process our request. SUMMARY We have been working with the city for nearly six months to bring this project to the Elk River community, and have submitted a vast amount of project information for staff and the EDA's consideration. We appreciate the EDA "taking the properties off the market" at the December meeting, and hope action can be taken at the January meeting. At the January EDA meeting, over sixty days will have passed since we sought direction on entering into a purchase agreement with the city. There is no policy or process in place as it relates to responding to this type of request; this can cause confusion, and a feeling of "not being wanted" by the business owner, particularly when the level of detail of information asked for from each business varies so greatly. Moving forward, it would be beneficial to have some type of checklist with approximate turnaround time to follow for future land purchase requests, to maximize efficiency, and ensure all business are treated fairly. Without this information, it has proven challenging to provide staff with the information they decide they need before they can make a decision.